The Opening Bible is the book of 1 Corinthians and the 11th chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter number 11. As you're turning there, may I take the opportunity to express my appreciation to Brother Jim Hobbs and to the Grace Baptist. Let me restart that. Brother Jim Hobbs and the King's Edition Baptist Church, you dear friends have treated us royally. It makes me feel like a priest or a king. And I thank the Lord for you and your love, kindness to each one of us in making this weekend a time to remember and a highlight of the year that we look forward to annually. And may God make it so even till he comes. It is our prayer and desire. I bring to you greetings from the Grace Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, our north of it. And we would be delighted to have any of you who could ever come visit with us in our own services or such like. Lord willing, we'll be hosting one of these Labor Day weekend. We'd be honored to have you come down and visit with us there. Now, 1 Corinthians and the 11th chapter, beginning with verse 17. Now, in this I declare unto you that I praise you not that you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper, and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in, or despise ye the church of God? and shame them that have not. What shall I say unto you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. For I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had sucked, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened to the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another, And if any man hunger, let him eat at home, that ye come not together unto condemnation, and the rest will I set in order when I come." The Lord's Supper. We live in a day and an age when among professing and even Baptists, this is called into question as to what it is and things concerning it. And in that age, it's time to return to the basics. It's time to get back to what the Bible was. Today the Lord's Supper seemingly is placed by many into a position of insignificance, that it really does not matter and it really is not important. Well, my dear friends, I submit to you that this attitude concerning one of the beautiful pictures that God has given us of the death of His Son is very flivorous to say the least. We need to get back to the basics as held by Baptists since the days that the Lord Jesus Christ lived upon this earth and instituted His church and observed it as it was delivered by Him to His church and without any change whatsoever. Since the day that John prepared the material and the Lord Jesus Christ gathered them together and had this observance with them, there have been, by different names or even without name, Baptist churches that have met and observed this as the Lord instituted it, without failure and without compromise, down through the ages, and there is today. My dear friends, I submit to you that we who hold the truth in righteousness are not and should not be apologetic for what the Bible teaches. We should hold it, stand for it, God giving us grace and the need die for it as our forefathers have. We are not in an age because of compromise and because of the desire to get along that we let the truth fall in the street and trample it under the feet of ungodly men. We need to stand and do all that we can to withstand Him. This is not original, but my dear friends, it's a basic Baptist truth that if it is in the New Testament, it's Baptist doctrine. And if it's Baptist doctrine, it's in the New Testament. And I'll tell you the Bible, the New Testament was written by Baptists for Baptists, and it'll make Baptists. And I'm not going to apologize for being a Baptist and the distinctions that stand within. Basics of the Lord's Supper, and that's all we'll look at here this morning, God being our helper. First of all, what is the Lord's Supper? Well, it's just a type. It's just a picture. That's what it is. It's a symbol. The elements in the Lord's Supper never become anything more than what they are as they are prepared and as they are brought in. The heresy of the Roman Catholic Church of transubstantiation brought in by the Council of Trent is just that. It's a heresy of the rankest order and it destroys and defies this beautiful picture that the Lord Jesus set in His church concerning the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. It is true that we need to see Him and view Him and remember Him and never unworthily partake of this ordinance, but it is just a picture and just a time of the lovely sinless body as it was wounded and bruised and torn and tattered and as the blood flowed from the side and from the head and from the hands and the feet and the shoulders and back of the Son of God as the Jews and the Roman Empire united together derail themselves against Jesus Christ as He died there. Hold this portrait, love this portrait, but never imagine that it's anything more than just that. Anything that says made in Rome ought to throw a question to a Baptist anyway. So think about that. Secondly, does it matter what elements we use in the observance of the Lord's Supper? Does it matter? We live today when it seems that it doesn't matter. And when that happens, Baptists need to get back to the basics and believe the Bible and what it has to say. I say to you today that the only biblical approved, the only example that we have in the Bible of use in the elements of the Lord's Supper is wine and unleavened bread, period. That's it. no other thing. And I submit to you, as our brother said concerning baptism, God did not grant the authority even to his church to change, substitute, adulterate this observance as he delivered it to his church. Keep the ordinances as I delivered them unto you. It's the command of our God. I suppose that we would all agree here that leaven is symbolic of sin in the Bible. Is there anyone that does not agree with that? So the real question then is what does contain leaven? That's the real question. When it's all said and done, that's the real question that rages. And is it important? I received a letter from a dear brother and he was very meticulous as to what he believed and so forth. And he come down to the end and with the Lord's Supper, I mean, boy, we could walk hand in hand and run under the same umbrella and just enjoy everything greatly. And he comes to the Lord's Supper and he says, I believe in using sweet, unleavened grape juice. And I did, and now, you know, someone says, I'll be as kind as I can, but I'm going to stand for the truth if, you know, Jesus, when they all walked away, you know, so if you get up and walk out, I'm going to stand for the truth, God be my helper, okay? And so, he said, I wanted to write him and say, where do you get that? You know, that's the question, I don't know. What do you get out of 11 grape juice? I'd be interested in that. Because, There's no such thing. I wouldn't want to use it if you could find it because that's not what the church in the New Testament uses and I'd like to act like they acted and do what they did. People who use unleavened bread and turn around and use grape juice are denouncing and being divided in what they believe and what they practice and what they say. It's only a picture, but it is a picture and you would not want to in any way Allow someone to stand in your pulpit and even insinuate that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was tainted with sin, not even in tithe for picture. You wouldn't allow that, would you? So don't do it any other way. Wine is the element. Unleavened bread, I'll give you that and not even take the time to deal with it. If you have any questions, look at 1 Corinthians 5 verses 6 through 8 and take a look and see what the Bible has to say there. But wine is the only possible element from the teaching of the Bible. First, the church in the Corinth while this church was in a bad shape. I tell you right now, if we had a group around meeting like this, we'd put an Ichabod all over it in a heartbeat. I mean, the women were out of place. They were talking, weren't wearing head coverings. They were abusing the tongues. They had someone in the church, a member who was guilty of adultery. I mean, this was a horrible shape here. And they were abusing the Lord's suffering. And so the Apostle Paul, by God's inspiration, writes two letters to them. And in this first letter, he deals with many things that's wrong in the church. They were abusing the Lord's supper. And he says, now you need to get this thing straight or I'll deliver it to you which I received of the Lord like I received it from Him. He didn't get it from Jerusalem. He went into Arabia, I believe. If you want to disagree with this, don't fall out with me. He went into Arabia, spent three years there. God communicated with him as an apostle born out of time, and taught him many things that the Lord showed him, and the Lord's supper was one of them. And he says, I received it of the Lord. I didn't get it from men, and I delivered it to you like he gave it to me. And now you're abusing it. Why? Well, because you're making a meal out of it. You're having it, but some of you are eating overly amounts and some of you are drunk. He didn't jump on them nor rebuke them in any way for the elements that they used, but for the abuse of it in making a full meal out of it and actually becoming drunk at the Lord's Supper. Now my dear friends, I submit to you this thought. Now just think. The only thing that in many years crossed my lips alcoholic is in the Lord's Supper or something medicine. I don't want to get in medicine. You know, I don't know what that might be. But as far as anything else alcoholic, it has not. God, that's the truth. That's the truth. So I'm, you know, not just absolutely a teetotaler, but I'm close. And understand this. I've got a large tank, but I can't drink enough grape juice to get drunk off of. I just can't hold it. And you can't either. And if someone tries to tell me that the Church of Corinth was using grape juice in the Lord's Supper, I want to know how they got drunk from it. Think about that. How did they get drunk from it? That's what they used. And the Lord Jesus Christ also, I've got to move on time, you know how it does. But the Lord Jesus Christ also, when He instituted it in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Mark, if you'd like to follow along. In the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Mark, the Lord Jesus Christ here is instituting the Lord's Supper. I don't think anyone would doubt or question that, but let's just break into the narrative with the cup, verse 23. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. That's the Lord's Supper, the cup of the Lord's Supper. Everyone agree? Look at verse 25. Jesus then, he says, verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom. Someone says, now you say it's the fruit of the vine. Well, if you convince me that great wine is not fruit of the vine, you've done something. That's the fruit of the vine. It's just been off the vine maybe a little longer. Unless you want to look at Isaiah 65, and you'll find there that it was new wine in the cluster on the vine, by the way. You'll find out there that it was that. You're going to take a look at that. But the Lord Jesus, in verse 25, said, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine. It seems to me that He had before drink of it, the fruit of the vine. Now what did He drink of the fruit of the vine? Matthew 11, 19. Just think a little and rightly divide the Word of God and put it together. You know what He was called in Matthew 11, 29? A gluttonous man and a wine-bibber. A wine drinker. He drank the fruit of the vine. John the Baptist came. He did not. And Jesus came and he did. And you tell me. He said, I'll drink no more of the fruit of the vine until I drink from you in my kingdom. That tells me he had drunk it before and that was what he was using to institute his supper because he refused to drink it there with him. He said, I won't drink any more until I come again in Matthew 11, 19. He says, they call me a wine beaver because he did drink wine, the fruit of the vine, beforehand. My dear friend, many people in the age in which we live make a lot out of the term new wine. In the Baptist circles, even. New wine. And now, what is that? What is that? Well, there's a difference between new potatoes and old potatoes. You know, they don't look alike, exactly. And they don't taste alike, exactly. But I'm gonna tell you this. There's one thing common about them. They're still taters. Whether they're new taters or old taters, they're still taters. And new wine or old wine, there's one common thread in there. It's still wine. Okay? Alright. Someone told me, I heard a fella say one time that, well, new wine's grape juice and you couldn't get drunk on it. They ain't never read second chapter of Acts out there. You know what it says there in the Day of Pentecost? Think about this. You can't get drunk off new wine. Well, listen a minute. Acts chapter 2 verse 12, and they were standing, I'm just going to break in for time's sake. They were standing, they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, what meaneth this? The others, mocking, said, these men are full of new wine. Now look what Peter said in verse 15. These men are not drunken, as you suppose. Now, you say new wine won't make you drunk. Well, read that. Verse 13, somebody said, well, these men are full of new wine. Peter said, no, they're not drunk. That's exactly what it is. No, they're not drunk. My dear friends, one more thing before I pass on to this, and that's this. Leave this point. Well, that'd be all right. I've been a lot of places I'd rather go to beat the Lord. I mean a lot of places I've... Never mind. Never mind. I did what science calls an exact conditions test about three years ago. Now folks from Grace Baptist have seen this but don't go to sleep anyway. That's three year old grape juice. I'd ask you to come take a look at it. for a version of wine now. That's all, nothing, nothing but grape juice poured in this container. On the same day I bought both containers, on the same day I put wine in this one, I put grape juice in that one, I set them down side by side just like that and left them alone and come back in a year. The first Saturday in January of 19, whatever, 91, I guess it was. Time flies when you're having fun. And I came back a year later and just looked at them. And now, of course, it's been a little more than that. But I want you to look at this, friends. Someone says grape juice doesn't have leaven. Tell me what this is. Tell me what's in here. Tell me what's come out of the grape juice and left wine. Look at it. Now if someone, if your pastor is to stand, hold something up and say this is a picture, a type, a symbol of the blood of the Son of the living God. Do you want it to be this? Or do you want it to be this? Which one do you think God would say that's a picture of the blood that cleanses from sin? My own begotten Son. Think about it. Consider that and look at it. You can do that. Nobody here has to take my word for it, you know. Just try it yourself and see what happens. That's the way I learn in trying things. I don't like to take word for things. I like to try. Now, to the basic of who is to partake in the Lord's Supper. Who is he? Well, it's just limited to the members of a body in one place at one time, period. That's all there is to it. We don't get so spiritual that we open communion to anyone outside of our body. We don't have any control over it. We don't have any say-so over it. If this church here, Kings Edition, were to be observing the Lord's Supper, and I came up here, they wouldn't allow me, and they'd be offended at me if I asked, and I'd be offended at them if they offered. Understand that. And it's the same thing. Brother Hobbs or any of the members from here come to our place and we're having the Lord suffer. I'm not judging any salvation. I'm not judging any life. I'm saying you're not a member of our body. That's all I'm saying. And I'm saying that it is to be observed by the members in one body at the time and that's it. How can you have unity? It's hard enough to have unity in one body. Let alone trying to unite two or three bodies. I know it's hard enough to just one. It's hard enough to know what's going on in the lives of the members of one church without whatever may be going on somewhere else. And I tell you, 1 Corinthians 5 says these people like this, you just don't eat with them. You read and see. With such a one not to eat, Now, we don't judge those that are without. Grace Abundant Church has no right, no authority to make any judgment over the condition of membership here and who they serve as far as the members of their body, any more than they have over us. But we, as a body, have the authority and the right to who we serve within our body. We judge those that are within, not those that are without. God has said it that way. And then, not only is the Bible clear about its teaching in this regard, One of the things that's so clear to me is 1 Corinthians chapter 11. The Apostle Paul was a missionary extraordinaire. The example for all missionaries to emulate, in my opinion. Here, he had been used of God to preach the gospel. As a matter of fact, he says, I'm your father, you people at Corinth. I'm your spiritual daddy. You might have 10,000 instructors, but you'll only have one father, for I've forgotten you through the gospel." That's what he said to the Sanhedrin. And then, when it comes to this matter of the Lord's Supper, here he was close-knit to them, loved them, cared for them, spent time with them, sacrificed for them. And yet, when he taught them concerning the Lord's Supper, he excluded himself. from participation therein. Why? Because he was not a member of that body. That's why. In verse 20 of 1 Corinthians 11 he says ye. Now just go through here if you'd like and mark your Bible the ye's. He excludes himself from participating in the Lord's supper with them by saying, when ye come together. Verse 22, have ye not houses. Verse 26, as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. He said, I'm not in that. I can't take part in that. That's for ye. But then he comes over to 1 Corinthians 15 and the Y becomes a W. Then he says, we. He says, I can't participate and be part of you in the Lord's Supper, but when the resurrection comes, we will go. We will go then. It won't just be ye, it will be we from there on. He says, it's you who has the Lord's Supper, but we will go together. I can say that of King's Edition Baptist Church. You know, when ye have the Lord's Supper, I won't participate. I won't become a part of it. I won't be involved myself with it. But if the Lord comes while you're having it, we will go together. Okay? You say, God's Word is inspired. This is important. One letter. One letter change in the teachings here and how much it is. Verse 51, 1 Corinthians 15, I'll show you a mystery. We shall not all swing, but we shall all be changed. Same church, same situation, same thing with them all the way through. One other point on this matter just before I take off, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ and the institution of the Lord's Supper the first time. Who was there? Now, I don't want to get into 11 or 12. I don't have time. But it was the apostles. Now, do you sit there with two eyes and ears on your head and try to tell me that there was only 11 or 12 people saved in the city of Jerusalem at the time He instituted the Lord's Supper? Do you think that? While there was a Samaritan woman at the well, I believe she's somewhere around there, don't you? I'm telling you right now, dear friends, there was enough people in the city of Jerusalem that were saved, and he limited it to those he set first in his church, the apostles. It was limited to them. He limited it, and so should we. This should be preceded by a time of self-examination. There is a scope to the Lord's Supper that should cause us to look back, think of now, and view the future. Okay? My time is going. I don't know where he gets this idea of three tight computer pages. Is it? I thought I did. I was about to have a heart attack here. He's coming after me early. I want to get back where we started to close. The importance. Because that's really where it lies. You see, if you don't view it as important, you don't care what the Bible says about it. If it's not important enough for you to sacrifice, then you don't care. The Baptist hasn't been that way historically. They care. They cared. And we ought to care. We're living in the days when Jesus is coming back. I believe that. We believe that. And if we believe that, we ought to live like it. It ought to have a practical effect on our life, to our ministry, and how we act and what we do. The Lord's Supper is a little honored and esteemed today. Not thought of as it should. Not to have the place of prominence that it should. I want to ask you there, Baptist brethren, is there anyone here who does not look at baptism as being yonder and the Lord's Supper yonder? How do we view them? Why is one... Let me say some differences. I really can. But one's not everything, the other nothing. Well, preacher, don't you know it's only a type anyway? Well, baptism's only a type too. It's just a picture also. It's not a literal dying. We do die. We symbolize our death, but we don't literally die. If you do, you'd be cuffed up for too long. You see? It's a picture. It's a type. You say, well, that means it's not important. Well, ask Moses. Moses never put one footprint in the land of Canaan because he broke the type. Ask Uzziah. Uzziah lay dead beside the ark of God because he broke the type. It's not important? Walk out to that city of Corinth and go out to the graveyard there. And the Lord says, well, many sleep because of it. What's it going to take to make it important? Is it going to be important to you after you're dead? How about now? Go to the sick bed where He says, for this cause are many weak among you, sick, and many sleep. What has God got to say to make it important to us? What does He have to say? My dear friends, we should consider this with the worthiness that God has placed upon it, with the worthiness that Baptists have down through the ages, even until now. And God help us to get back to this basics in the Word of God and the teachings of it. And stand forward and contend and support. I can get into some things. How we ought to practice and how we ought to do it.